Serum Institute of
India Ltd. and Merck (known outside the United States and Canada as MSD),
have entered into an agreement to develop and commercialize a pneumococcal
conjugate vaccine (PCV) for use in the emerging and developing world
countries of the world..

Pneumococcal disease is a bacterial infection that causes pneumonia,
meningitis, sepsis and other life-threatening ailments. Current estimates
show that at least 1 million children die of pneumococcal disease every
year, including mostly young children in developing countries.

"Serum Institute is
committed to improving access to and affordability of vaccines for
children throughout the world. In working closely with Merck in the
development of this collaboration it became clear that we share
parallel public health goals and that our passion for getting
vaccines to everyone who needs them is made even stronger by working
together".

Dr. C. S.
Poonawalla, Chairman & Managing Director

Together, Merck and Serum will form a Product Advisory Committee to
oversee the activities required to develop and seek approval for PCV and
pursue World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification. Under the terms
of the agreement, Merck, through an affiliate, will receive specific
rights to market PCV in certain designated territories and Serum will
receive specific rights in other territories. Both companies will
contribute to the development and manufacture of PCV. Specific financial
details of this agreement are confidential. This collaboration does not
impact the on-going pneumococcal vaccine development programs in both the
organizations.

"Working side by side
with Serum gives us the best chance of developing and bringing a
product to the market that will help to protect more babies and
children," said. Expanding vaccine access to emerging and developing
markets is a top priority and we feel strongly that this
collaboration will be a giant step toward impacting the devastation
of pneumococcal disease".